The present invention relates to elastic garments, and more particularly to therapeutic stockings.
In the recent past, therapeutic stockings have been prescribed on a relatively wide scale to prevent possible embolism in a patient. When a patient is confined to bed, for example, after an operation, the likelihood of thrombus is markedly increased due to a decrease in the velocity of blood flow in the patient's legs during confinement. Therapeutic or anti-embolism stockings cause application of a compressive pressure against the patient's leg which gradually decreases from the ankle toward the upper part of the leg. Such stockings increase the velocity of blood flow in the legs, and minimize the possibility of thromboembolism.
The stockings are frequently worn in a hospital environment, and are commonly worn by the patients without slippers or shoes. Many of the patients who wear the stockings are relatively weak and unstable on their feet, and it has been found that the patients may slip on the waxed hospital floors while walking or while leaving their beds. It is thus desirable to provide such stockings with a lower surface which prevents slippage on the floors. Since the stockings are periodically laundered, the stockings must be capable of withstanding the elevated temperatures during launderings without loss or degradation of the non-slip surface. Also, the non-slip surface should not impair the desired stretch characteristics of the stocking.